


Love Out of Phase

by Candyoranges



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: First Time, M/M, Non-Chronological, Non-Linear Narrative, set early season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candyoranges/pseuds/Candyoranges
Summary: An accident occurs at G.D. – like any other day in Eureka. But unlike any other day, this accident is the catalyst for Jack Carter and Nathan Stark to overcome their differences and work together.Aka … 42 days trapped alone with Nathan Stark – either one of them was going to wind up truly dead… or they might actually end up getting along.





	Love Out of Phase

**Author's Note:**

> This story is purposefully written in non-chronological order. If that drives you bonkers or you get confused with what happens when, there’s a timeline cheat sheet in the footnotes, but it will contain minor spoilers if you haven’t finished the story yet.

** Day 21**

Jack was sitting in the middle of the rotunda at Global Dynamics people watching. Scientists scurried past, noses buried in their tablets or hands gesturing wildly in discussion with a co-worker. Dr. Graham walked by with trimmings from her hyper-oxygenating ferns. Then Dr. Ellis, carrying some sort of gadget that was sparking alarmingly. This being G.D., no one else seemed to be worried and kept about their own business.

He leaned back on his hands and stared blankly at the ceiling letting the quiet noises of footsteps and conversation fade into white noise.

Suddenly a shrill alarm sounded, probably coming from one floor down. So much for a quiet afternoon.

Sure enough Allison came around the corner a moment later, conversing quickly with Fargo as they hurried right past where he was sitting and continued on to the elevators. Jack sighed. Part of him felt like he should follow and see what the latest catastrophe was, but it’s not like he’d really be able to help anyway. 

Trying to keep the depressing thoughts at bay, Jack closed his eyes and tried to focus again on the noises of life surrounding him. 

A brush against his arm made him aware that someone had sat down beside him, but Jack didn’t bother to open his eyes to look. He already knew exactly who it was. Instead, he casually inquired, “So did you see what the alarm was for? Anything serious?”

“Minor explosion in Lab 206. Didn’t look like anyone was injured.”

The voice was deep and soothing, and Jack found himself leaning slightly against the shoulder next to his. Finally opening his eyes to look over at his companion, Jack saw Nathan Stark mirroring his earlier pose of gazing at the ceiling.

“You missed Taggart’s latest experiment gone wrong,” Jack said, and began recounting how Fargo and Taggart had spent over three hours chasing weird canine/monkey hybrids around the lobby, into the ventilation system, and across half of Section 3.

Stark snorted. “Ah, what exciting lives we lead.”

Both men winced internally. Exciting was the last thing their lives were right now.

** Day 0**

Dr. Chung had been prattling on for nearly ten minutes about how his new invention was going to revolutionize the industry… _yadda, yadda, yadda_ … and Jack was bored out of his skull. Unfortunately, he’d ended up standing near Stark for this little presentation, _(double unfortunate really)_ , who was the main focus of Chung’s exuberance. Not only would yawning in the other scientist’s face be rude, but Stark would never let him live it down. Besides, it was Jack’s own protocols that required him or Jo to oversee experimental trials involving Class A hazards.

Finally even Stark got impatient and asked Dr. Chung to move along to the main experiment, which involved shooting a ray of _something_ at some sort of _device_. At first nothing visible happened, but then a slight waver in the ray/beam/whatever had Jack’s intuition going haywire. Before he could yell to turn the damn thing off, the world exploded in light.

…

Jack pulled himself off the floor with a groan; his body was still tingling. Judging by the blast pattern decorating the room, he and Stark had borne the brunt of the explosion. Before he could start complaining about another scientist exploding their lab _again_ Stark cut in, glaring at and berating Dr. Chung for not following proper procedure. _Ah, the one time he could actually appreciate Stark’s glare and snarkiness – funny how Stark was a lot less amused when Jack wasn’t the only one blasted onto his butt._ Except Dr. Chung seemed to be ignoring both of them entirely and was just staring horrified at his machine. Stark of course didn’t appreciate being ignored, and stalked forward to stand directly in front of the scientist… only to have Dr. Chung pass right through him as the man turned to scurry back to his computer.

Eyes wide, Jack leapt forward to put his own hand on Chung’s shoulder… and watched it slide right through the scientist’s torso without the least resistance. _Damnit!_

** Day 2**

Jack paced in the corner of the Lab 319 anxiously. After security had shown up due to the explosion and Dr. Chung had babbled out that he had disintegrated the Sheriff and the Director of Research, the cavalry had arrived to take over the lab. Except Henry, Zane, and Fargo had been analyzing the data for the past two days and didn’t seem to be making any progress. In fact, they had both started talking about whether the explosion _had_ actually vaporized the two men. (Well, they used more science-y terms, but that was what it sounded like.)

Glancing across the room, Stark had a grim look on his face as he listened to the increasingly despondent debate. Initially, Stark had been constantly interjecting his own theories or pointing out supposedly obvious pieces of data they were overlooking (even though the other three men could of course not hear him). For the last few hours though, Stark had fallen mostly silent, which Jack really didn’t think was a good sign in this case. Yet Jack refrained from pestering the scientist as he really wasn’t sure he wanted to know the current answers.

Maybe he had become too used to someone always finding last minute solutions to save the day. For all of the crazy and deadly situations Jack had faced since coming to Eureka, they had always managed to stop or reverse the problem. _(Although he and Stark weren’t there to help this time, and, not to be arrogant, but they were usually front and center for finding solutions…)_ The thought that this might be the exception when there was no miracle, that he and Stark would be casualties of the rare, unsolved situation – Jack swallowed hard and buried the thought before it could take further root.

** Day 10 **

“Are you seriously going to keep insisting that the current safety standards are sufficient? After what happened?” Jack flung his arms out wide to indicate their present situation. 

“What occurred with Dr. Chung was an outside case, and your deputy has…”

“Outside case?!” Jack cut him off incredulously. “This sort of thing happens all the damn time, and you’ve never been willing to do anything to stop it. And now, because of _your_ unwillingness to rein in your crazy scientists I might never be able to hug my daughter again!”

“Risk is necessary for the advancement of science. Besides it wasn’t that the safety standards were insufficient, our present predicament is due to Dr. Chung subverting the regulations.” Stark was icy in his own anger, cool disdain dripping from his words.

“Yeah, and you don’t think it’s a problem that people are _subverting the regulations_ without anyone noticing until it’s too late?” Jack wanted to punch that dispassionate look off of Stark’s handsome face.

Really, it was the same argument he had had a million times with Stark since arriving in Eureka. He just couldn’t believe that the stubborn scientist was still holding to it even while suffering the severe consequences of a such a prime example of people disregarding safety (both their own, and that of everyone around them). He and Stark might be stuck permanently out of phase from the rest of the world, and the other man was still spouting about “necessary risks” – as if Dr. Chung cutting corners was in any way necessary.

Jack was more than fed up. Of all the people he had to be stuck with _(perhaps permanently!)_ it had to be Stark. If he didn’t walk away now, he was going to do something he wouldn’t _(would)_ regret. If Stark was going to keep being a bastard, or take out his own frustrations on Jack, then Jack had nothing more to say to him. It wasn’t like it would be hard to avoid him after all.

** Day 12**

There was a bit in _Tom Sawyer_ that Jack remembered reading once, where Tom and Huck Finn attended their own funeral. This was nothing like that. For one, he and Stark didn’t get to have a sudden reveal where everyone finds out they’re alive and everyone goes home happy. Watching everyone you love crying – over you – _sucks_.

Zoe was wrapped firmly in Abby’s arms sobbing her heart out, Jo and hair-boy standing nearby in silent support. Abby had tears streaming down her own face as well but kept looking down at Zoe to keep from having to stare at the empty caskets.

Henry looked… broken. God, Jack didn’t know what had been wrong between them the last few months, but it hadn’t been that long since Henry had lost Kim. And now he had just lost two of his closest friends at once.

And Allison, she had her arms wrapped tightly around Kevin, gaze fixed blankly on the caskets. She was crying too, but it seemed like she was trying her hardest to keep her composure. As the newly-named director of G.D., she must have felt compelled to copy Stark’s usual mask of authoritarian indifference. Of course, it didn’t help that everyone was also eying her reactions, as the ex-wife and potential love interest of both supposedly-dead men.

In that moment, Jack didn’t care if her mourning was entirely for Stark. If they ever did find a way back, and she decided to re-marry Stark, Jack wouldn’t say a word as long as it kept her from ever having this look on her face again. He knew from an offhand comment from Stark last week that she had been crying herself to sleep at night when no one else could see, but Jack hadn’t felt like he could intrude. For one, he didn’t want to run into Stark while spying in her bedroom. And secondly, he didn’t feel right _spying in her bedroom_. Jack watched over her at G.D. and in Café Diem and even in her living room, but he didn’t feel he had the right to invade her inner sanctum.

Besides, he had his own mourners. It killed him to watch Zoe cry and be unable to touch her and hold her and tell her everything would be alright, but that didn’t stop him from following her around to make sure she was okay – _for a relative value of okay where she believed her father had just died_. At the bunker, even S.A.R.A.H. seemed to be in mourning. The lights were all dimmer than they normally were and her vocal responses were subdued. 

** Day 3**

When Jack finally gave up for the day on watching the depressing lack of progress in Lab 319, he trudged his way back to the bunker. He found Zoe curled up in her bedroom hugging his prized World Series baseball bat, with the still visible marks from when he’d tried to beat up a nuclear reactor to save her life.

“Zo... Zoe baby.” Jack was choking back his own tears. “I’m still here. I haven’t gone anywhere.” He _knew_ she couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t touch her. He could do _nothing_. This was one of every parent’s worst nightmares, to see their child in pain and not be able to do anything to alleviate it. Even knowing it wouldn’t work, Jack kept trying to put his arms around her and it killed him every time his hand phased right through her shoulder. 

Eventually Zoe’s muffled sobs gave way to rage, and suddenly she threw the bat across the room where it crashed against her desk. She was screaming now. _“It’s not fair”_ and _“You promised you wouldn’t leave me again”_ and _“Come back, come back.”_ Jack didn’t know what to do. His own unheard apologies couldn’t cover up the sound of his little girl’s heart breaking before his eyes.

He stayed with her until she screamed herself into exhaustion, collapsing on the floor – his hands still hovering helplessly above her head, her hands, her shoulders. 

The sudden touch on his own shoulder took him by surprise and he nearly jumped out of his skin. It was Stark. _Of course_ it was Stark, there was literally no one else it could be.

“Were you looking for me? How did you know where I’d be?”

Stark was giving him a much milder version of his usual Carter-you’re-an-idiot look and simply replied, “You’re a father. Where else would you be?”

Jack turned back to Zoe. The words brought him back to that night chasing down Zoe and Callister, the first time he’d truly seen the human behind Stark’s uncaring mask. And now he was losing Zoe again, although in a very different way – _if they never make it back…_

Changing the subject, Jack asked, “How’s Kevin doing?” He was still watching Zoe, but he could feel Stark stiffen behind him.

“He doesn’t believe that we’re dead.”

That was enough for Jack to tear his eyes away from his daughter again. “You think he knows…?”

“It’s possible. I don’t know.” Stark ran a distracted hand through his hair. “Kevin has always seen the world differently, especially of late with the… Anyway, it’s possible he knows somehow, or guesses. Unfortunately, Allison simply believes he’s not able to cope with the truth.”

Of course. It didn’t really matter what Kevin knew if no one would listen to him anyway. Jack understood that feeling all too well. And Kevin was not really in a position where he could do anything to help without adult cooperation.

The conversation was interrupted by the noise of the bunker door opening, followed by footsteps on the stairs. A minute later, Jo burst into the room and made a bee-line for Zoe still curled up on the floor leaning against her mattress. Jack had been wondering why Zoe had been crying here alone, and he was glad to see someone hold her and comfort her – even if it couldn’t be him.

In fact, he quickly backed out of the way when Jo approached because he didn’t want her walking through him, or worse, kneeling in his spot.

Withdrawing to give the two women some privacy, he and Stark ended up on the staircase where they could more or less sit on the steps. 

Jack hesitantly returned to their earlier conversation to ask something he had always wondered about but never voiced. “How old was Kevin when his biological father died?”

“Six months, too young to have any memories. And since Allison’s parents and siblings are all still alive, he’s never had to face the death of someone he cares about. It’s not unreasonable of Allison to assume that he’s just not coping.”

“Zoe’s grandmother died when she was seven, I remember how long she took to really grasp the concept. And then there was Callister…” He trailed off, knowing the memory was probably still painful for the other man, but it was the first time Zoe had actually seen someone die.

** Day 14**

With the funeral complete, Zoe and Abby had left that morning for Los Angeles. Lucas, Pilar, Jo, Henry, and Vincent had all come to see her off with tight hugs and whispers of staying in contact if she needed anything – from a virtual shoulder to cry on (Lucas) to homework help (Henry) to the secret banana milkshake recipe (Vincent). Zoe was clearly torn between leaving all of her friends in this community where she had finally found a place for herself, and wanting to get as far away as possible from the memories that would now be associated with leading to her father’s death. 

As painful as it was to watch Zoe leave, Jack was glad she had Abby there. It would be tough for Zoe to re-adjust to a “normal” life, but Abby would make sure she didn’t isolate herself too much. He just hoped Zoe didn’t start acting out again. This time he wouldn’t be there to chase her down if she tried to run away to Canada.

_(Hopefully Abby would let Zoe come back to Eureka if and when Jack made it out of this weird limbo state.)_

After watching the car drive away, Jack walked back to the bunker, phasing through the door. The rooms were as empty as the first night Fargo had shown the bunker to Jack. All of his things had been packed and put into storage for Abby and Zoe to sort through later. _(He could only hope that they wouldn’t get rid of everything before he made it back.)_ The only light came from the skylight. S.A.R.A.H. had been shut down after she finally realized that Abby was taking Zoe away, and tried locking all her doors again. Fortunately, the skylight Jack had installed after the previous incident kept Zoe and Abby out of any danger, but S.A.R.A.H.’s inability to cope with losing both of “her” people meant that she refused to calm down until Henry and Fargo were forced to override her programming.

Jack took a final look at the empty echoes of his life in Eureka and shivered. He really hoped Stark found a way to get them back, and that he would still have a life to get back to.

** Day 5**

Being out of phase with the rest of the world was weird. Stark had tried to explain what had happened, but Jack hadn't entirely understood. Basically, because they were out of sync with time, how much they could interact with things depended on how permanent and moveable things were – the longer something had been in one place, the higher the chance that Jack and Stark could interact with it. 

Other people could walk right through them without any resistance – which was disturbing. Likewise, it was impossible to interact with carriable stuff like coffee cups and pens and keyboards – which limited their methods of trying to communicate with anyone. (Jack had been carrying a pen and notebook in his pocket when the explosion had happened, which they _could_ interact with, but since the pieces of paper and even ink marks on the wall were all equally out of phase, no one else seemed able to see them.) 

Doors and heavy furniture generally felt like tissue paper – you could push through them, but it took a tiny amount of effort. Walls and floors were the most solid-feeling of course (constantly sinking into the ground would have been bad), but they'd still mostly only existed for a few decades, not counting any explosion-induced remodeling. Stark, unsurprisingly, had to experiment and found that they could therefore push through those too, but with considerably more concentration. Jack would have been intrigued by the ability to walk through walls – and poke into all the secret nooks and crannies of Section 5 – if it weren't for the fact that they might never make it back to put that knowledge to use.

According to Stark, their bodies being slightly out of phase with reality also stopped their auto… _autonomic_ functions. This was pretty handy since there wasn’t actually any food or water that they could interact with, and starving to death surrounded by all your friends who couldn’t see you would be a _horrific_ way to die. They also apparently didn’t need to sleep or use the bathroom (which was weird but fine) and didn’t need to breathe (which Jack avoided thinking about because not needing to breathe made him think of vampires and actually being dead, and _nope, totally not going there_ ).

** Day 7**

For a small town, Eureka was surprisingly big – or at least spread out. 

It made perfect sense to have G.D.’s main building somewhat removed from the town. It occasionally lessened the impact on one or the other when something went wrong. It also kept the top-secret research facility out of the view of any curious visitors to Eureka (like during Jack’s first foray into the town over a year ago). With a car, the few minutes’ drive hardly even counted as a commute.

Unfortunately, cars and any other types of vehicles might as well not exist for all the use they did Jack right now. This meant he was becoming far too familiar with the long, long walk between G.D. and Eureka. Sure, his feet might not actually be able to develop blisters, nor could he truly get out of breath, but it still took forever. _(Thank God at least one of the bridges had been around for a few decades or crossing the gorge would have been extremely difficult – and he had no desire to fall that distance again, even with no possibility of broken ribs this time.)_

The same problem existed for anywhere else he wanted to go. _(He loved living out in the woods – but had the bunker really always been that far away?)_ It made it much harder to pop over from watching Zoe’s school to see how Henry was doing, or to check in on Jo and her new robotic deputy at the Sheriff’s Station. Every time he wanted to go anywhere, he had to calculate the time it would take and whether it was worth the effort.

The other difficulty was the lack of external communication methods. Obviously he couldn’t talk to anyone who wasn’t also out of phase – but it was also surprisingly hard tracking down the one person he could talk to. 

Jack hadn’t noticed for the first few days – he and Stark were each busy looking over their own people, and they generally ran into each other in the lab at some point during the day as they watched Henry, Zane, and Fargo’s attempts at progress. It was only after he hadn’t seen Stark for over 24 hours at one point that Jack realized he had no way to contact the other man if it became necessary _(they both had their phones, but the wireless system was out of phase)_ and no way to find him besides searching the entire town… on foot.

Stark may have been one of Jack’s last choices as a conversation partner, but he knew he’d go crazy if he stopped being able to talk to _anyone_. Stark must have had similar thoughts, because the two men eventually settled into patterns of bumping into each at Café Diem or Global Dynamics at certain times of day, where they would be able to check in with each other and also watch over the town.

** Day 19**

Jack was following Jo around that day, or at least he was following her around in the office – he couldn’t exactly chase after her when she took off by car. 

He was happy to see her finally receiving the promotion she deserved, even though it was clear that this was never the way she wanted to inherit the sheriff’s position. She had been assigned an A.I. as her deputy, and Jack was so glad he’d gotten Jo as his deputy instead when he’d been sheriff.

Jo was busy filing paperwork at the moment, and he was unsurprised to see that she was more on top of it than he’d ever been. He looked over her shoulder as she filled in the reports – a domestic disturbance (Fargo and Seth at it again), a minor traffic accident (the self-driving car still needed some tweaking), and the arrest of a biochemist who’d been secretly using her husband as a lab rat for years. 

(Apparently, the husband finally decided to visit the G.D. Infirmary for his recurring stomach cramps and flu-like symptoms, and the doctors had found traces of unknown substances in his blood.) It had taken two days to definitively identify the wife as the culprit, and Jack could see instances where Jo had approached the case differently than he would have, but her way clearly worked just as well since she had successfully made the arrest and had had the scientist shipped off to the D.O.D. Jack mused that Jo and Allison also had a better working relationship than he and Stark ever had. Allison needed more proof at the start of the investigation but was more accommodating during it. Conversely, Stark had almost always thrown up roadblocks when it came to arresting his scientists, but had surprisingly (at least occasionally) started to listen to Jack’s hunches without concrete proof.

As Jo answered the phone – it sounded like lab animals loose at G.D. again – Jack thought about what might happen if... _when_ he and Nathan made it back. The world had moved on without them and even if they were both given their old jobs back, it would mean demoting Jo and Allison from positions they deserved. 

** Day 17**

“So did you always want to be a scientist? Did little six-year-old you run around in a lab coat with a magnifying glass and a measuring tape?”

Stark turned and gave him the you’re-an-idiot look, appearing completely baffled by the question that had popped up out of the blue.

“Oh, don’t give me that look. You are _literally_ the only person I can talk to right now, and I don’t really want to argue about work, science, risk-taking, or how many explosions we’ve gotten in this damn town.”

Stark continued to stare at him balefully for another minute, before rolling his eyes. “Yes, I always wanted to be a scientist, but no, I did not run around in a lab coat as a child.” He paused, and Jack was afraid that was going to be the end of the conversation attempt, but apparently Stark was just as bored and lonely as Jack. “When I was about six, I did dismantle my radio and boosted the receiver to pick up stations from two states over.”

Jack stared at him for a moment to see if he was serious, before cracking up. “Oh my god, I can totally see that. What else did you take apart in your quest for better living through science?”

“Well there was the time with my father’s electric razor…”

Twenty minutes later, Stark finally asked, “So what about you? Was being a U.S. Marshal always a childhood dream?”

“Well, I did play a lot of cops and robbers as a kid, but, no, it was more of a backup plan. I was going to be a pitcher for the Dodgers. I always liked the idea of law enforcement, but as a kid I never seriously considered it as a career.”

Apparently Stark had heard the rumors about Angela or had read his redacted personnel file, because he silently gestured at his shoulder.

Jack swallowed. “Yeah, after the… accident, my baseball career was pretty much over. I’d also been offered baseball scholarships at both UCLA and Stanford, which were of course withdrawn.

“So, I went to the police academy instead. My father was pushing for the army, but that was the point when I set my heart on the Marshals. I mean, I worked the beat for a couple years with the L.A.P.D. while trying to test into the Marshals, but I knew that I wanted to do something bigger. Even here in Eureka, I still get a lot of calls for domestic disturbances and the like – brings back memories from when I was in the L.A.P.D. As a U.S. Marshal though, I was tracking down serial killers, drug dealers, rapists… It was exhausting, grueling, and depressing, but it was also exhilarating, and completing a successful case was one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.”

Stark was giving him a considering look, like he was slotting new puzzle pieces into place. Jack wasn’t sure what those pieces were or if he had any desire to ask. Instead the conversation drifted back to other childhood antics and Jack found himself having his first truly enjoyable conversation with Nathan Stark.

** Day 24**

Afterwards, Jack could barely even remember how it had all unfolded. He and Stark had been spending increasingly more time together as they fought to keep the fear and depression at bay. As they let down their guards, they also began initiating casual touches – deliberately brushing against each other as they sat closely side-by-side, closer than they would have in other circumstances.

Jack wasn’t an idiot (no matter how much Stark might accuse him of being otherwise); he knew all about the possible effects of isolation. This wasn’t quite solitary confinement, but the lack of human connection beyond each other was still plain. The fact that they could barely interact with their environment either meant that they were both facing some serious levels of sensory deprivation. Still, he had come to the realization that he actually enjoyed talking to and cuddling up against Stark, and not just because he was the only choice available. _(He should probably start thinking of him as Nathan, really.)_

Maybe that’s why it wasn’t as much of a surprise as it should have been when they finally reached a tipping point. 

A casual arm draped around a shoulder morphed into a hug, a desperate clinging to human contact. Grips tightened enough to bruise (if they could get bruises). Suddenly, and unsure of who initiated it, hugging graduated to kissing. Hands rucked up shirts for the slide of skin on skin. Every inch of their bodies strained to press together tighter, more, everywhere. It felt like the most intimate encounter of his life, even without being directly sexual. Or rather, there was an odd feeling of his mind being urgently turned on, but with no normal bodily response.

Eventually, they eased apart a fraction at a time, heaving as if they had just run a marathon even if they didn’t actually need to breathe. For a long time, they clung to each other, filtering out the noises of the world that couldn’t see them. 

** Day 29**

Since crossing that line a week ago, any time he and Nathan spent together now (which was a lot) usually involved touching. It just felt so good to feel something truly solid – and to feel human touch. It was comfort and physical connection, distraction from boredom and worry, and also just really, really good. Right now, for instance, Jack had rolled his head onto Nathan's shoulder as the scientist wrapped his arms around him and practically pulled him into his lap. 

They were hanging out in Café Diem that day, simply sitting on the floor in the back corner since they phased right through the booths and chairs. Really, they’d had to get used to sitting on the floor or stairs or ground most of the time, although Jack still found the sensation odd of knowing he could just sink straight through even those surfaces if he concentrated hard enough – or was sufficiently distracted.

Finding out about the distraction/concentration factor had been _entirely_ Nathan’s fault. 

Two days after that initial dizzying kiss, Jack had found himself shoved against the wall of the Atrium being once again kissed within an inch his life. Nathan apparently had a bit of an exhibition kink since he seemed to enjoy the idea of ravishing Jack in public places, even if no one could see them. And while their weird limbo state meant neither man could become physically aroused, they also didn’t actually need to breathe – prolonging the length of their kisses until Jack’s mind went blissfully blank.

Of course, that was when he’d tumbled backwards through the wall. 

Apparently completely zoning out also meant turning off the part of his brain that told him to expect the wall to be solid. 

Jack tended to avoid thinking about everything that was happening with Nathan, what it meant, and how comfortable he’d become with the other man. He tried to ignore the thoughts of what might happen when they got back to the real world, with Allison and with their conflicting jobs. (The kissing had started because they were both touch-starved and lonely – when they got back Nathan could easily choose to return to pursuing Allison, and how could Jack possibly ever pretend to forget everything that had happened between them?) He especially avoided wondering if that “when” might be an “if” and he and Nathan would spend the rest of eternity trapped as ghosts. Was it even possible to die when their bodies weren’t even quite alive?

** Day 16 **

Following the funeral, Jack could feel himself sinking into a depression. He could see the same effect happening with Stark. After the gloomy day in the cemetery, they had put aside their prior argument and stopped avoiding each other. After all, what did it matter now? They were stuck here, unable to send any message to the outside world, and no one knew to even look for them. 

Zoe had left, and even if it had hurt Jack to see her in such pain, at least he’d been able to watch over her before. It had given him a purpose, a direction, and now he felt like he was just drifting. Part of Jack wanted to lose himself in the woods around Eureka where he could pretend that the solitude was just because nobody else was around. He was too much of an extrovert for that though. Even if he couldn’t interact with them, he needed people around him. It was also the same reason he’d started seeking out Stark more often. They had never seen eye to eye, but Jack was desperate for two-sided conversation.

He also knew that the only way to fight his depression and find any sort of peace in this f’ed-up situation was to establish some sort of pattern to his days: watching over his friends, poking around in G.D., and trying to hold conversations with Stark that wouldn’t end in bickering or insults.

** Day 39**

It was a surprise when he idly wandered the hallways in Section 3 one day and saw the lights on in Lab 319 – the lab where the explosion happened and this whole stuck-out-of-phase thing started. Maybe the lab was being cleared out the rest of the way for a new project? If so, their chances of escaping this limbo-land were going to go way down.

But no, Zane was in the lab alone and was messing with Dr. Chung’s equipment. Jack wished he could understand what exactly Zane was doing. Was he looking for the best way to disassemble and store everything? Had someone finally realized that he and Nathan were still alive (in a manner of speaking)? Or was it just that Dr. Chung’s research was important enough that the project was being reopened?

Zane had started talking (or rather, complaining) to himself as he worked and Jack wanted to fetch Nathan to interpret the mumblings, but he was afraid Zane would leave before he could find the other man and return. Instead he pulled out one of the precious sheets of paper remaining in his notebook and tried to write down everything Zane said. Nathan would no doubt scoff at the very poor transcription, but it was the best Jack could do at the moment.

After Zane finished up and left, it took nearly two hours to track Nathan down in Café Diem.

“Zane was in the lab.”

“That is part of his job.” Nathan was once again wearing his snarky you’re-an-idiot look, and Jack rolled his eyes. _(He knew, now, that Nathan didn’t truly think him an idiot, but that look still seemed to be an instinctual response when the scientist thought Jack said something stupidly obvious.)_

“No, he was in _the_ lab. Lab 319.” Now he had Nathan’s attention. “Here, I tried to write down everything he was muttering to himself.” He thrust the piece of paper at Nathan’s chest and then stared intently as if the scientist should be able to make an instant deduction from his messy notes. Nathan was (of course) furrowing his eyebrows and making interjections such as “what is that word even supposed to be?”

Nathan was still grumbling about Jack’s bad transcription when he finally folded the sheet in half and stuck it in his pocket. Before Jack could question him further, however, the scientist kissed him soundly then grabbed Jack’s arm and started tugging him back towards Section 3.

Jack crossed his fingers.

** Day 9**

“Alright, I’m calling it.”

Jack looked up to see Allison enter the lab. Stark trailed behind her, his face a mask of anger. Jack had a sinking suspicion he knew where this was going. 

Henry apparently picked up the same vibe, asking carefully, “Allison, are sure you want to do this?” The older scientist looked tired; he had been spending long hours working in Dr. Chung’s lab with Fargo and Zane trying to find a hint of what went wrong. But over the last few days, Jack had noticed the earlier frantic attempts slowly becoming more and more sluggish. There were fewer claims of breakthroughs and more formulaic crossing-offs of all the things that didn’t work.

Allison looked sympathetic, but unmoved. “It has been over a week. You have yet to find _anything_ to indicate that Nathan and Carter survived that explosion. Has that changed?”

Fargo looked like he wanted to interject, but all three scientists reluctantly shook their heads.

“Then there’s nothing more to say. It’s time to move on and get back to other projects. Fargo, I want everything in here sealed up. You know the procedure.” Behind Allison, Stark turned and (ineffectually) punched the wall before storming out of the room. 

Allison turned to Henry. “I’ve scheduled the funeral for three days from now, so that all the paperwork can be filed and to give Zoe Carter’s mother a chance to arrive. I’ve already tasked Sheriff Lupo with contacting her and working out the arrangements. Would you be willing to give the eulogy?”

Jack couldn’t believe how insensitive Allison was being in that moment. Henry looked like he had aged ten years in the last five minutes. The last thing he looked like he was ready to do was give a eulogy for his “dead” friends.

_Dead._ Jack finally let that sink in. He and Stark had just been declared dead. There would be no more chance of a miracle solution from Henry or Zane or even Fargo. Lab 319 was going to be shut down and all of the equipment mothballed. The lab might even be emptied entirely, a clean slate for the next big government project. 

He and Stark were on their own.

** Day 40**

So apparently Dr. Chung’s work was really important, and since Dr. Chung himself had been redacted for not following the prescribed safety protocols, Zane had recently been tasked with reviving the project. No one had any idea still about what actually happened to Jack and Nathan, but Nathan was convinced that they might nevertheless be able to take advantage. Jack wasn’t going to argue since having the machine that caused the problem be the thing to fix it seemed logical – and had, in fact, been what he’d hoped would happen over a month ago. _Better late than never, right?_

_Dear God, he hoped so._

Spending all day watching Zane, who was occasionally joined by Fargo requisitioning things back to the lab, was making him antsy though. Nathan had mostly been hovering around the other two men, trying to see if they did anything he could exploit. So far, nothing. 

Suddenly Nathan looked up and seemed to study him from across the lab, analyzing every nuance of Jack’s impatience. With a few strides he was across the room and wrapping Jack up in his arms. Jack gripped the scientist’s shirt tightly and buried his face, dimly realizing that after weeks trapped in limbo he was suddenly having a panic attack. _What if this didn’t work? What if they still couldn’t get Zane’s attention? What if they never made it out?_

Apparently he’d been voicing all these thoughts out loud, because Nathan was replying far more gently than he’d ever heard from the other man. 

“Jack, we _WILL_ make it out.”

With his eyes closed, Jack could feel the tips of his ears burn red. He was _NOT_ prone to panic attacks – he’d been a goddamn U.S. Marshal after all – but he never liked situations where he couldn’t do anything, where he felt helpless. It’s why he frequently got frustrated during Eureka’s many catastrophes where he was told to sit in the corner while the geniuses did their thing. Also, although he’d never completely given up hope of eventually escaping this purgatory, a lot was suddenly riding on this fresh chance.

As he continued taking calming breaths (which he didn’t actually need), part of Jack couldn’t help but to instinctively believe Nathan’s assertions. Even when they’d still hated each other, Jack had always trusted the scientist’s determination and ability. If Nathan was confident that this time they’d find a way to make it back, or at least to establish contact, then Jack would do his best to keep faith.

** Day 41**

Jack went to stand in the beam of the machine, but Nathan pulled him back.

“What are you doing? This could be our ticket home!”

“Or it could kill us.” Nathan looked him up and down, and then started unbuttoning and removing Jack’s outer uniform shirt.

“What are you…?! I _really_ don’t think this is the time…”

Nathan just rolled his eyes, spreading the shirt out on a nearby lab table and removing the pen from the breast pocket to start scrawling _“Still both alive…”_

Jack heard a mild humming start up and swore, yanking Nathan through the door and behind the observation shield Zane and Fargo had erected. 

The two younger men were busy pressing buttons and checking readouts, barely even paying attention as the machine let out another blinding flare of light. Suddenly, Fargo yelped, “Zane, I’m getting some weird readings here.” Zane stepped over to peer over his shoulder, “Huh, that can’t be right. I think we need to shut down and recalibrate.”

Two feet behind them and a half second out of phase, Jack and Nathan were gripping each other’s hands tightly. Both of them were (metaphorically, at least) holding their breath.

When neither Zane nor Fargo seemed to notice anything further and simply went about shutting down the machine, Jack groaned in disappointment. He went over to put his shirt back on… and his hand went right through the material. Jack inhaled sharply and heard Nathan do the same from somewhere behind him.

Then suddenly it was _Zane’s_ hand reaching through Jack and picking up the shirt. When he saw the name badge and star and the message scrawled across the back his eyes went impossibly wide. “Holy Shit! Fargo, call Henry, Jo, and Dr. Blake. NOW!”

Three hours later, Jack was pacing in one corner of the room while Nathan hovered over the whiteboard where Henry, Zane, and Fargo were working on equations. 

Nathan had written out on Jack’s shirt the notations for some of the science behind their situation of the last month, and the others were trying to first interpret and then extrapolate from the equations. Of course Nathan was not taking his inability to contribute to the conversation well, and kept groaning about how the others were idiots and clearly a different variable should be used at that point of the equation.

Jack eyed Jo and Allison who were observing from near the doorway. When Allison had seen Jack’s shirt covered in Nathan’s handwriting she had looked deeply shaken. She had authorized whatever resources were necessary, but almost seemed afraid of what the other scientists might find. Jack didn’t know if it was Allison having to put on her director-face again, or if she just wasn’t sure how to deal with the possibility of their survival after having mourned them for weeks.

Jo, on the other hand, was wearing her determined “I’m not letting anything get in my way” look and was gazing steadily at the furious discussion occurring on the other side of the room.

** Day 42**

Actually turning on the machine was a little anticlimactic. After 42 days stuck in a weird limbo state with a man he had formerly considered his biggest rival while technically being unable to even goddamn breathe, all they had to do in the end was stand inside a marked area while Henry, Zane, and Fargo pressed buttons and fired a huge blast at them. Okay, the huge blast was dramatic, but the fact that everything worked exactly as intended was surprising.

Not that Jack wished it hadn’t worked! God, no. He was so completely done with limbo land. It’s just that this was Eureka and things never went this easy. Something unexpected always seemed to happen to foul up even the most straightforward tasks. As he and Nathan inhaled their first true breaths of air in over a month, however, he figured he could simply be thankful for once. 

Not that Jack was given much of a chance to simply lie there and breathe; he and Nathan were swamped with hugs almost immediately. Henry and Jo and were crying happily (although Jo tried to pretend that she wasn’t), Zane was grinning like a lunatic, and Fargo was blubbering all over Nathan (much to the other scientist’s resigned exasperation). Allison, however, was holding back, still apparently hesitant about her reaction to the sudden unexpected (and delayed) miracle. When she finally stepped over, her quick hugs felt almost perfunctory as she ordered them bundled off to the infirmary for checks.

He and Nathan were both alive, however, and once again able to interact with the rest of the world. Whatever happened next, Jack would face it head on.

** 2 Days After**

Jack had spent two days stuck in the infirmary before the doctors (and Henry and Allison) had conceded that there were no lingering effects from the time spent out of phase, other than some sensory overload. The deluge of hands and voices reaching out to him to welcome him back and make sure that he was real were both terrifying and exhilarating. When Zoe arrived, running into the infirmary at full tilt and throwing herself into his arms, Jack couldn’t stop running his hands over her face, her hands, her hair – finally able to touch her. _(He’d never forget sitting in the bunker as she cried and watching his hand pass through her shoulder.)_

It was also an adjustment to have his body working properly again. His chest was rising and falling because he was actually breathing, not just out of mental habit. He was just glad he didn’t embarrass himself when his digestive system started working again and he needed to use the bathroom for the first time since coming back. Food, though – _food was amazing_ , even the sludge the doctors made him eat for the first 24 hours. After that, Vincent smuggled in a special order and for once didn’t begrudge him his cheeseburger, and damn if it wasn’t the best cheeseburger Jack had ever eaten in his life. (Well it seemed that way to Jack at least, but knowing Vincent, it probably _really was_.)

Other habits were harder to break. He kept tuning out when other people tried to talk to him, forgetting that they might actually be addressing _him_. At one point Allison seemed worried that he might have suffered brain damage after all when it took Jack far too long to respond to her inquiries.

Throughout those two days, Nathan had been in the same room with him the entire time, but he felt farther away than when they had been wandering on foot through opposite parts of Eureka. Between the steady stream of teary well-wishers and all the doctors and nurses passing through their room, it felt like the two men were never alone. And that was _weird_. Jack had gotten so used to being alone with Nathan while a crowd passed unknowingly around them, that he kept opening his mouth to begin the conversation he desperately wanted to have, only to remember that _everyone else would actually hear them_. Jack was just thankful that he didn’t actually slip up and forget. 

** 4 Days After**

Moving back into the bunker had been hard. First of all, Jack hadn’t been back in weeks. It was too far a walk and too depressing to poke around the empty shell of a house to bother. Plus, he hadn’t really needed to sleep while in limbo land and had spent the last two weeks talking and stargazing with Nathan most nights. Secondly, Jack still had a bit of a problem with walking into doors and walls, expecting to phase right through. (Although that was actually less of a problem in the bunker with S.A.R.A.H. preemptively opening doors for him.) 

More dramatic though was how much of a roller coaster S.A.R.A.H.’s reactivation had been. She had been overjoyed at Jack’s (and Zoe’s) return and had practically smothered them with her particular brand of overprotective care. At the same time, she was obviously feeling angry and betrayed by Fargo and Henry’s decision to shut her down. Her tumultuous emotions were not helping Jack at all with getting his own under control.

Getting back his stuff – and getting back his job – had proved to be much simpler by comparison. All of Jack’s things had still been in a storage unit waiting for Abby and Zoe to be ready to sort through it, so that had just been a matter of having someone haul it back to the bunker. The question of giving Jack the Sheriff position back without demoting Jo had also ended up having a relatively easy solution. Allison had proposed a new head of Security position for Jo at Global Dynamics while Jack took back his old job. It meant that Jack would be stuck with Jo’s robotic deputy, but Jo would have fun ordering around all the G.D. grunts and he and Jo could still work cases together – although this time as equals.

Similarly, Jack had heard that Nathan had taken a newly created position as head of Section Five rather than trying to take the full directorship of G.D. back from Allison. He wondered if Nathan, like Jack, had come to re-prioritize his life after their extended stint in isolation – or if the other man was just too exhausted and off-kilter to put up that kind of fight. (Although the thought of Stark being too tired to fight made something twist inside of Jack.)

Jack hadn’t seen Nathan once since they both left the infirmary, and he was still desperate to have that much-needed conversation. Although one possible concern was gone. It was clear from Allison’s continuing distant attitude since their return that, while she was happy that they were alive and whole, she had shut the door on what-might-have-been while mourning their deaths, and she had no intention of ever re-opening that door again. That didn’t automatically mean that Nathan was interested in continuing their _whatever-they-were_ with Jack however, and the more time that passed the more Jack feared the only answer he’d receive would be rejection.

** 7 Days After**

When Jack came home after his third day back as sheriff, it was to find Nathan sitting in his living room. 

“Why does everyone just barge into my house?” _(Well-wishers continued to pop in at unexpected times, even a week after being brought back.)_

Nathan just arched an eyebrow. “Are you saying you wouldn’t break into my living room if you wanted to talk to me?” _Which, okay, point..._

Too tired to argue, and frankly having missed Nathan, Jack simply finished locking up his gun then flopped onto the other end of the sofa. Raising his head, he caught Nathan’s eye and finally asked the inevitable question, “What happens now?”

Nathan eyed him carefully, visibly weighing words and responses, that brilliant brain ticking away behind the green irises. Clearly, _he_ wasn’t going to start this conversation, which meant Jack had to come up with something.

“Do you know what I did today? I spent ten minutes petting Fargo’s annoying dog that always pees on me. I let the Baker twins try to explain all their latest projects to me – purely for the thrill of holding a conversation. Hell, I _literally_ stopped and smelled the roses in Copernicus Park.”

Nathan obviously didn’t know where he was going with this because his intense gaze from earlier had turned more bemused. Jack sighed and held out his hand. “I’m just saying that nothing’s going to go back to the way it was before… unless we want it to.”

A hand reached out to take Jack’s, before tugging so harshly that Jack ended up sprawled across Nathan’s lap. Scowling, he looked up to meet amused green eyes. Instinctively their arms wrapped around each other, reminiscent of their many moments in limbo land.

“So, does that mean that you are up for some kissing again now that our bodies are fully functional?” Nathan was still smirking at Jack’s undignified sprawl, but Jack didn’t care.

“Hell yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> The scenes in chronological order:  
> Day 0 (The accident)  
> Day 2 (Hope fades)  
> Day 3 (Zoe cries)  
> Day 5 (Explaining the rules)  
> Day 7 (Transportation woes)  
> Day 9 (Lab shut down)  
> Day 10 (The fight)  
> Day 12 (The funeral)  
> Day 14 (Zoe leaves)  
> Day 16 (Depression)  
> Day 17 (Childhood conversations)  
> Day 19 (Following Jo)  
> Day 21 (People watching)  
> Day 24 (Touch starved)  
> Day 29 (Falling through walls)  
> Day 39 (Project restarts)  
> Day 40 (Waiting/panicking)  
> Day 41 (Successful contact)  
> Day 42 (Rescued)  
> 2 Days After (Re-adjusting)  
> 4 Days After (Back home)  
> 7 Days After (New beginnings)
> 
> So, this all started from a desire to write an out-of-phase story that tried to have rules about why they could or couldn’t interact with things – ie. not just phasing through everything except somehow the floor. There’s still suspension of disbelief/physics about how they ended up out of phase, but at least I could try to be internally consistent beyond that. Of course, making rules also ended up limiting me. In order to have Jack and Nathan trapped for longer than a day or two, they either needed to have food and water in phase with them or be able to survive without them. And if they didn’t need food and water, then really the rest of their bodies shouldn’t need to function either – and suddenly there was no chance for kinky invisible sexytimes. Alas, such is writing.


End file.
